Daniels: These are the times that try men's souls (Redux: Trivial Pursuits)

Stacy Leroy Daniels

Published 10:15 am, Saturday, February 25, 2017

It bodes us well to compare the trying times of 1776, during the birth of our nation, with the trying times of 2016, as our nation continues to evolve, allowing the intervening 240 years for reflection. Many parallels can be drawn from the inspiring commentaries of Thomas Paine*, which swell above the dissonance of cantankerous debate amplified by pursuit of trivial news in the instant communications of modern times. Arguments between progressives and realists are replete with whether history is cyclic and crises repeat.

(*) Essays I and XIII of “The American Crisis,” a series of 13 pro-revolutionary essays written between Dec. 23, 1776 to April 19, 1783 by Thomas Paine, political philosopher and writer, expound on his ongoing support for an independent self-governing America through the severe crises of the Revolutionary War. (Whether Paine’s views were “Republican” or “Democratic” is beyond the scope of this humble article.)

In his first essay, written when the revolution was viewed as an unsteady prospect, Paine contrasted the conflict between the good American devoted to civic virtue and the selfish Provincial facing the possibility of an ensuing panic. It so inspired General Washington that he had it read to his troops at Valley Forge.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” / “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” /

“‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them.” / “Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered.” / “They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world.” / “There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude. “ / “But, before the line of irrecoverable separation be drawn between us, let us reason the matter together.” / “I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it.” / “By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils …“ /

We are now experiencing trying times redux — a repeating cycle of disquiet and turbulence when our collective futures seem uncertain — world conflicts, political unrests, economic concerns, immigration issues, and heath and environmental threats. These challenges to our existence are indeed difficult (1) to define and place in context, (2) to interpret and prioritize and (3) to solve expeditiously, This is especially true amidst a background cacophony of prejudgments and affixations of blame for future events yet to transpire before their outcomes are determined to be adverse or beneficial.

Present-day events pale by comparison to those from earlier periods in our nation’s history, like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War I and World War II. Even in the aftermaths of those past conflicts, when our nation was torn asunder and raw memories were fresh, we were still united in the common causes of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Civil War; the South v. the North! Families and friends had deep divisions of opinion. Local citizens traveled far away to fight and die, family against family, for a cause. When it ended, times were tough and lives were changed forever. Peace brought prosperity. Our pioneering forefathers saw their futures as bright. The potential for growth and development was endless. The power of the human spirit was repeatedly bent, but never broken!

The present national political “crisis” would seem to rank small compared to past “crises,” which instigated periods of nation-building. Unlike past crises, the current “crisis” has been largely self-inflicted from within: ignited by divided opinions, fueled by real and imagined consequences and fanned by public doomsayers into an apparent conflagration. It seemingly can only be quenched by reversals of fortune for the disenfranchised, to avoid leaving us in the ashes of our past greatness. Has this newly created “crisis” with its divisive internalized polarizations, caused us to regress to a nation of “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots,” shrinking from service to our country? Are we repeating our past history?

The reader of current news is seriously challenged to distinguish between “true” and “false“ news. The problem is compounded by the blurring of what one thinks is true and what actually is true versus what disingenuous others with ulterior motives want one to believe is true. One might separate local news from the omnipresent onslaught of national news. In small-town America, local news is presumed to be more believable and less threatening, while national news, being more distant, is often reported as “breaking” (and unfixed), implying bad to impending worsening conditions without proven association, and seldom reported as impossible, incredible and/or irrefutable. No prioritizations are made between false, inconsequential, trivial news and true, substantive, non-trivial news. The naive public is left to transform “earth-shaking” trivial news from perception into reality. Such a waste of time is a terrible thing to mind.

In a free society, citizens are rightly left to voice their opinions regardless of personal experience or expertise and to form conflicting liberal/conservative interpretations of the opinions made by others. This begets a continual onslaught of letters to editors from gruntled and disgruntled readers facing each other across opposite sides of political walls, silently accepting or actively expressing divergent viewpoints and bemoaning respective fates. This continues until another interminable election cycle sweeps the political stage and overwhelms all. Unfortunately, there are few pauses to allow attempts at conflict resolution.

Who among us wishes acrimonious debates and divisive protests thrust uninvited into our daily lives? Who cares to read minutiae of crowd sizes, whose bust is in the White House or divers unsubstantiated prognostications of “doom and gloom”? Accusations abound of “fake” news generated with audacious claims and misleading statements attributable to undocumented sources. Differences in mutually exclusive past/present/future views lead to conflicts of popular beliefs, desired actions and preferred outcomes. “Fake” news casts doubts, discredits actions, creates confusion, provokes misunderstandings and generally “muddies the waters.”

Real issues of job creation, the economy, world peace and tolerance of others are lost as trivia prevails. The dictum, “When the legend become fact, print the legend” appears increasingly in disingenuous ways to promote reactions to popularized “trivial” issues. We harken to calls to actions without consequences. “It is exciting to write about the present once one gets beyond the trivia of the moment. As a time to live in, as a time to think about, the present is intriguing.” (Vikram Seth, Indian writer and poet, 2009)

“Trivia” has two interpretations. In the classic sense, trivia (L. trivium, from tri- “three” + via “road”) literally describes a place where three roads meet, a crossroads. It is interpreted as “an open place, a common or public place.” (Trivia was the Roman goddess of crossroads and guardian of roads.) In the modern sense trivia refers to congeries of insignificant details rather than to three of the classical pursuits*.

(*) The first three pursuits comprise the Trivium (three roads), the arts of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric, associated with the communication of information. The second four pursuits comprise the Quadrivium (four roads), the sciences of Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music, associated with the application of data. A trivial-minded person in trivial pursuit of trivial news might consider the “soft” information of the arts easier to digest and regurgitate, and of greater consequence than the “hard” data of the sciences.

Paine speaks only fleetingly of being “thankful for the most trivial evasions to the most humble remonstrances” (Crisis V): “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture”; and of “the limits of a dispute, being fixed by the fate of arms, and guaranteed by treaties, are not to be changed or altered by trivial circumstances” (Crisis VIII): “To prosecute the war with vigor, and to make every exertion in order to compel our enemies to equitable terms of peace and accommodation.”

Who makes the final judgment between the trivial and the consequential? Who is in control: the individual, the public, the media, the government, all four entities? Is it “minds” over what “matters,” or “matters” that occupy the most “minds?” The real questions are who’s in charge versus who’s not, whether those in charge are responsible, who knows what change is needed and who makes best effort for all?

Our nation seems now at a crossroads — caught between perception and reality — ensnared inexorably between the trivial and the consequential. Has the public juxtaposed these two positions to where reality becomes perception that “trumps hillarity” (sic)? Has balancing our nation’s risks evolved into extremes of being left (“topsy-turvy”), or right (rectifiable), depending upon political persuasions? Extremes lead to decided losses to our shared sanities and political parities.

We risk rewriting our history by repeating, reinterpreting and reassessing. Two quotations come to mind — one familiar: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Santayana, Life of Reason, 1905), — and one obscure: “When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have affected a cure*.” (Winston Churchill, House of Commons, May 2, 1935)

(*) The quote continues: “There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the Sibylline Books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong — these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” The Sibyls were oracles consulted in times of momentous crises through the history of the Roman Empire, who predicted the future as inspired by the gods. Their answers depended upon how questions were asked — not unlike modern journalists whose questions may be answered with oblique responses.

We have truly arrived at a trivium, a crossroads where our political differences intersect. We now must merge in mutually responsible and cooperative ways to insure that our nation moves forward in a positive direction for our common good!

O Trivia Goddess, leave these low abodes,

And traverse o’er the wide ethereal roads;

Celestial Queen, put on the robes of light,

Now Cynthia (Artemis) name’d, fair regent of the night.

At sight of thee the villain sheaths his sword,

Nor scales the wall, to steal the wealthy hoard.

O may thy silver lamp from heav’ns high bow’r

Direct my footsteps in the midnight hour!

— John Gay*, Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London, 1706. https://archive.org/details/triviaorartwalk00gaygoog

(*) This satirical poem pretends to advise the reader about a congeries of trivial matters — how to dress properly, what sorts of boots to wear, how to survive falling masonry, chamber pots being emptied out of windows, overflowing gutters, pickpockets, wig thieves, mud splashes from carriages, etc. Its true intent is directed to the classic interpretation of Trivia offering a liberal education in an urban sociology. In the modern sense, it can be extrapolated to “walking the streets” of Washington, D.C., and the enduring of the perils of politics by those governing by those being governed.

Two additional quotations anticipate the uncertainties posed by the current dilemma:

President Lincoln said during a time of extreme tribulation: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.” (A. Lincoln, House Divided, June 16, 1858). Forest Gump immortalized the line: “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” (Forrest Gump, 1994, American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom.)

Current events may seem uncertain in these trying times. We thrive on new challenges, but we must accept unexpected results. Remember where you are and whether you are tending. This always has, and will continue to be so.

It also bodes us well to conclude by reflecting further upon the optimisms described by Thomas Paine.

In his 13th essay, written when the Revolution was nearing its successful conclusion, Paine offered thoughts on the coming peace, and its probable advantages as he contemplated the transition from the tumult of war to the tranquility of peace, noting a need for “gradual composure of the senses to receive it.”

“THESE are times that tried men’s souls, and they are over and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished. But to pass from the extremes of danger to safety — from the tumult of war to the tranquility of peace, though sweet in contemplation, requires a gradual composure of the senses to receive it. Even calmness has the power of stunning, when it opens too instantly upon us. The long and raging hurricane that should cease in a moment, would leave us in a state rather of wonder than enjoyment; and some moments of recollection must pass, before we could be capable of tasting the felicity of repose. There are but few instances, in which the mind is fitted for sudden transitions: it takes in its pleasures by reflection and comparison and those must have time to act, before the relish for new scenes is complete. …”

“Independence always appeared to me practicable and probable, provided the sentiment of the country could be formed and held to the object: and there is no instance in the world, where a people so extended, and wedded to former habits of thinking, and under such a variety of circumstances, were so instantly and effectually pervaded, by a turn in politics, as in the case of independence; and who supported their opinion, undiminished, through such a succession of good and ill fortune, till they crowned it with success.” /

“With the blessings of peace, independence, and an universal commerce, the states, individually and collectively, will have leisure and opportunity to regulate and establish their domestic concerns, and to put it beyond the power of calumny to throw the least reflection on their honor. Character is much easier kept than recovered, and that man, if any such there be, who, from sinister views, or littleness of soul, lends unseen his hand to injure it, contrives a wound it will never be in his power to heal.”

Stacy Leroy Daniels has been a resident of Midland since the mid-1940s. Near the end of World War II, he and a group of third grade classmates were photographed exchanging Valentine’s cards at a cardboard post office at Sugnet Elementary School. It was a trying time but everyone loved one another, and all were proud to be Americans. He later wrote, “The Comedy of Crystal Lake,” a true story of an ambitious attempt to build a navigable canal in equaling trying times just after the Civil War. Reassessment of many forgotten nontrivial facts turned an apparent failure into an obvious success, a serendipitous reversal of fortune!